Our five-day extravaganza at BBC Gardeners' World Live has sadly come to an end for another year.
Our five-day extravaganza at
BBC Gardeners' World Live has sadly come to an end for another year.
Much of my time was spent on our
Gardeners' World Magazine Celebrity Theatre where my personal contribution involved presenting informative and (hopefully) entertaining shows with great gardeners like Pippa Greenwood, Anne Swithinbank, Alys Fowler and Kevin Smith on far ranging topics like
orchids,
pest control,
thrifty tips and
wildlife gardening.
What a mix. In one show we could be describing the life cycle of the lily beetle or caring for moth orchids, and in the next making
bird nesting boxes or
sowing seeds in recycled toilet roll tubes. That's the joy of Gardeners' World Live - offering something for everyone, and giving visitors a chance to see their favourite television gardeners in action.
It was great having Monty Don at the show for a couple of days, seeing him in such fine form, and hearing of exciting future projects in the pipeline.
The Gardeners' World television team were at the show in force, both filming for Friday evening's programme (available to watch for the next few days on BBC iPlayer), and also in action around the show. Toby gave a wonderful talk on the development of Greenacre - the new TV garden - while Carol demonstrated plant propagation, and Joe inspired us with design ideas for any garden.
But it was Alys that I had the great pleasure to work with on stage. Kevin and I shared our own recycling tips with audiences, and Alys topped it all off with a great idea for bringing native wildflowers to derelict sites near you. Alys demonstrated how to mix together a little clay and compost with wildflower seed to form 'seed bombs'. Armed with a pocket full of these she then throws them into derelict sites to introduce wildflowers. This simple idea will hopefully help bring colour to unsightly corners of towns and cities, and encourage wildlife into them, too.
My family joined me at the show for a couple of days, with Danielle and Luke helping backstage as we hastily removed props from one show and prepared for the next. And as their reward they were able to meet and watch their cookery icons the Hairy Bikers and Gino D'Acampo, who were demonstrating delicious recipes in the adjoining Good Food Summer Show.
So, what are my overriding memories of this year's show?
Packed and enthusiastic audiences in our theatre
Visitors basking in the sunshine around the show gardens
Crowds jostling for position to see the experts in action on the new 'Taste of Greenacre' garden
Queues lining up to exchange all manner of things at the Plant Swap
And, of course, very happy visitors leaving the show laden down with bags full of exciting new plants
Well, that's the real joy of Gardeners' World Live. It's a place for gardeners to come, share, relax, enjoy, and take home wonderful memories as well as new plants for their own gardens. We'll be doing it all again next June!
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